#2
Her
December 18 (Limited)
I had no anticipation for Her until the trailer was released and it immediately shot up to “must see” status. Spike Jonze appears to have tapped into something special with this one, either that or whomever cut the trailer really knows how to edit for maximum effect.
Jonze has surrounded Joaquin Phoenix with immense female talent including Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Amy Adams and Scarlett Johansson as the voice you hear in the trailer. The film looks as if it simply can’t miss and I am already jealous of everyone that will be seeing this one early at the New York Film Festival.
Set in Los Angeles, slightly in the future, Her follows Theodore Twombly, a complex, soulful man who makes his living writing touching, personal letters for other people. Heartbroken after the end of a long relationship, he becomes intrigued with a new, advanced operating system, which promises to be an intuitive entity in its own right, individual to each user. Upon initiating it, he is delighted to meet “Samantha,” a bright, female voice, who is insightful, sensitive and surprisingly funny. As her needs and desires grow, in tandem with his own, their friendship deepens into an eventual love for each other. From the unique perspective of Oscar-nominated filmmaker Spike Jonze comes an original love story that explores the evolving nature—and the risks—of intimacy in the modern world.
#1
The Wolf of Wall Street
November 15
Martin Scorsese‘s The Wolf of Wall Street looks like a sink or swim kind of feature. I’ve read about one-third of Jordan Belfort‘s narcissistic autobiography from which the film is based and I think the decision to adapt it into a black comedy is exactly the right way to go. I do, however, have one big question… I wonder if after everyone sees this movie if they’ll wish the lead role had been given to Matthew McConaughey instead of Leonardo DiCaprio. I’m a huge DiCaprio fan, but I have a feeling this may end up being a role McConaughey simply would have owned.
Based on Jordan Belfort’s tell-all autobiography, The Wolf of Wall Street centers on Belfort (DiCaprio), a Long Island penny stockbroker who served 20 months in prison for refusing to cooperate in a massive 1990s securities fraud case that involved widespread corruption on Wall Street and in the corporate banking world, including mob infiltration.
